462 THE TLINGIT INDIANS [etii. anx. 20 



"Whenever a person was ubout to die he .said, " This hoiis(' is he<;iii- 

 niiiji' to fill with spirits. They arc waiting for nie.' This is whj' people 

 know there are spirits (Icayukgwahc'yalv"). 



"After tiiat a certain man tried to tind out whether there were 

 really any spirits (kayukgwahc'yak"). So he went out and shouted. 

 'I invite all of you ghost people (slA'ge qa'wu) to a feast.' He wanted 

 to see how they looked and to learn whether they could hear. By and 

 by he went out a second time and shouted. 'This way, this way, all 

 you spirits. I invite you all.' In the morning all tiie spirits he had 

 invited came to the door of the house. He had already laid down 

 mats for them, so lie said, naming them from their appearance, 'AH 

 Mossy -eyes (WAqcAntusIi'ql-qa)go to the rear of the house; all Dried- 

 out-ej'es (WA'qcAntuxu'k") in front.' He called them so because those 

 that had been long dead had moss in their eyes, while those who had 

 died rei'cntly still iiad dried eyes left. Hut the ghosts became angry 

 at the words he used and said, ' Do people call us Mossy-eyes because 

 they arc going to destroy us ? The ])eople that call us Mossy-eyes are 

 not going to beat us, are they T Still the man kept on calling them 

 by these terms, and when he dished up the first berries he said, 'Give 

 this to chief Mossy-eyes.' Then he filled a second dish and said, ' Give 

 this to chief Dried-out-eyes.' When the food was taken up, however, 

 and Mossy -eyes's name called ont, the latter said, ' Put it into the fire. 

 We like it bettei' that way.' Afterwards chief Mossy-eyes said, ' Let 

 this man take home for me what is left in my dish.' This was not a 

 respectful thing for a person to say to the giver of a feast, but he said 

 it because the giver of this feast had not respected them. 



"When the host reached Mossy -eyes's house, which was a grave 

 house, with the dish, the house smelt moldy and was so dark that he 

 wandered around to right and left without being able to see anything, 

 and he was unable to tind his way out. Then chief flossy-eyes said, 

 'Take out pitch and light it so that he can see to get home.' So they 

 tied pitch wood together, lighted it, and fastened it on his head, telling 

 him to go down with it. Part way down, however, the pitch ran out 

 over his eyes so that he could not see and had to be led into the house, 

 but the ghosts told his friends not to help him because he had treated 

 them so rudely. 



"Whenever people had a big feast in this world and put trays of 

 food into the tire, mentioning the names of the deceased, this food went 

 directly up to the spirit houses. And when people gave blankets away 

 to those about them it was just as though they gave blankets to spirits, 

 for the spirits also received them. 



"When a Wolf man at Sitka was about to give a feast the fire 

 began crackling and he said angrily, 'Why don't you spirits work 

 for food and blankets'^ You always want people to give them to 

 you.' As soon as this man was through feasting he fell sick and not 



